The industry is in a digitization process, which shapes the concept of Industry 4.0 (or Smart Factory), and has also reached a key aspect: storage logistics. This means technologies such as IoT (Internet of Things) and Indoor Mapping techniques are present in the industry. What are the advantages they bring?
How new technologies contribute to warehouse management?
The sensorization of these spaces brings great advantages such as better preservation of products and waste reduction. In addition, it has opened the doors to the geolocation of assets using Indoor Mapping techniques for indoor positioning.
We can monitor in real-time variables such as temperature, humidity or positioning, among others, so we don’t only guarantee the perfect maintenance of stored goods, but also improve the warehouse work management of operations.
Using resources such as beacons devices, which work with Bluetooth low energy, you can know the exact location of each warehouse operator in real-time.
Those are the main benefits of warehouse digitization:
- It provides real-time information about the product’s characteristics.
- Goods can be fully tracked.
- It detects faults in operations and product state.
- It streamline human resources.
- It eliminates delays derived from searching for lost or misplaced goods.
- Better information of product status for both the company and customers.
The case of grain storage silos
Grain storage in silos is a scenario where particular situations happen. The most common situations are:
- The presence of insects and other living beings that generate dirt, can feed on the grain or cause its fermentation.
- The appearance of mould caused by high humidity levels, which means a risk to consumers’ health.
- Water filtration through the walls that increases the silo temperature when evaporating.
- When silos don’t have thermal insulators, cooling and heating of near the walls areas arise as a result of outdoor temperature changes.
- Indoor moisture condensation.
The digitization of these environments brings great benefits. That is why many initiatives are emerging nowadays.
Silos intelligent management solutions: the ISMASS project
The ISMASS project stands out among these emerging initiatives optimizing storage silos. The goal of this project is improving IoT solutions for temperature monitoring and biomass storage in port environments.
ISMASS is part of the European Neptune Blue Growth program for the technological promotion of companies with activities related to environment and maritime, river, port and marine energy environments.
The goal of ISMASS is to develop a technological solution that controls variables of a silo such as temperature, humidity, occupation level, volume and shape of the grain stored inside in real-time.
Geograma started this project thanks to the help offered by the Euskadi Mobility and Logistics Cluster. As a result of a collaborative work with other companies, we managed to create a tool that, using IoT temperature and humidity sensors, allowed us to know the state of the grain and, thanks to the installation of cameras, to control the volume of the grain stored.
As a result of joint work with other companies, we managed to shape a tool that, through the use of IoT temperature and humidity sensors, allowed to know the state of the grain and, thanks to the installation of cameras, to control the volume of the dough stored.
How did Geograma participate in this project?
We made an inside digital reconstruction of the silo with the LIDAR technique (Light Detection and Ranging or Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) a technique based on the emission of laser pulses.
When the laser pulse hits a material, it reflects, and the reflected signal is detected by a device. Depending on the time that it takes for the reflected signal to be detected, the position of the material will be determined. This technique is similar to sonar, but using laser radiation instead of acoustic waves.
With this technique, we are able to obtain a points cloud used to recreate a three-dimensional and precise representation of the interior of the silo.
As you can see, the application of LIDAR in silos is just a small sample of its potential for industrial environments. You can obtain accurate representations of the interior of factories making exact measurements that allow you to determine the location of equipment with no mistakes. Using this technology, you have a digital version of the factory interior spaces and you can work knowing that there won’t be space problems.
We can say that you have at your fingertips a digital version of the interior spaces of the factory. From this, you can work with the assurance that you will not have space problems when facing important investments.
Do you think this technology might help you? Contact us and we will discuss your particular case.
